Tumah

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Tumah

According to the Kabala, the term refers to physical or moral uncleanness. The latter is divided into three main divisionsidolatry, murder, and immorality. Sin has rendered humanity imperfect, but also affected the whole of nature, even to the sphere of angels and the divinity. In physical uncleanness, there is a coarser and subtler form. The latter causes a dimness in the soul felt by those who are nearest to sacred things. Organic matter that comes into contact with the human body is more liable to tumah than remoter things. The human corpse is more unclean than lower animals, because its more complex nature involves more decay.

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